Creative Portraits of a Wild Woman | Bang Images

The Location

Chloe and I didn’t jump right into photographing with the mimosas, but they are the reason we chose this particular location. I’m sure you know the trees I’m speaking of-they’re the invasive, Dr. Seuss-looking ones that come to life in the spring with pink, fuzzy, fantail blooms. They draw me in every year, but this time I didn’t want to just photograph a pretty woman standing in front of them. I’ve done that. This time I wanted to push myself to be more creative, which is how this gallery of photographs came into being, Creative Portraits of a Wild Woman.

The Drama

I generally shy away from drama…except in my photography, and I really enjoy experimenting, especially with color! I find mimosa trees intriguing and I wanted to push the color conversation a little further, so I brought along a pomegranate since the blooms and the fruit are in the same color palette. The fruit just happened to be a favorite of Chole’s so it worked out smashingly. “Let’s get messy,” I prompted. And “messy” we got. Let the drama begin!

The Concept

I’m a big believer in “playing” in photography; experimentation has led me to some of my favorite work! The photographers I admire the most are usually ones that make out of the ordinary images through trying new things. And in my opinion, experimentation may not always be trying a totally new concept, but when you try a new concept it’s going to be unique because you are not just like anyone else.

Your creative insight is uniquely yours, influenced by your life experience. So try it; try the idea you’ve been shelving for months! Even if you’ve seen something done before, don’t be afraid to try it yourself. I’m not saying to copy others’ work; but I do think it’s okay to be inspired by ideas that you’ve seen. Take these creative portraits for example. Other photographers have painted faces. Others have also photographed women in front of mimosa trees. And yes, using fairy lights in photography isn’t an original idea either. BUT, if you keep tinkering around with the concept, you can make it your own, and you’re sure to create photos like no others.

In this creative portrait session, my concept was color-as colorful as I could make it. My creative tools were mimosas, a pomegranate, magenta and green powdered makeup, fairy lights, and a circular prism. You would be hard pressed to find another photographer who used these same tools and created similar photographs. Make your work your own.

Just for fun, here are a couple of photographers that inspire me, Sam Hurd and Joelle Grace Taylor.

 

It’s a Wrap

Chloe was an incredibly patient and cooperative subject. She’s also a photographer so bouncing ideas back and forth was a lot of fun. I think we took some creative chances and it resulted in a series of images that really stands out. Is this style of photography for everyone? Probably not. Did we have a blast creating together? Absolutely!

If you’re interested in other blog posts featuring creative ideas, you may like this studio portraits post or this downtown Birmingham outdoor portraits post. You’ll see my love affair with color featured in these as well!

Contact me if you’re interested in your own creative portrait session.